Some media houses turning girls into prostitutes – GJA

The President of Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Roland Affail Monney has accused some media houses in the country for contributing to high phenomenon of sexual immorality among children.

According to him “many children have become wayward, have become prostitutes not because their Parents are irresponsible but because of what they consume in the media.”

The GJA President made the comments when speaking at the launch of the 2018 United Nation’s International Day of the Girl Child organized by Plan International Ghana at Akuapem-Nsutem in the Eastern region on Tuesday. Mr. Monney explained that the Ghanaian media is increasingly inundated with sexually explicit programs driving many teenage girls into whoredom.

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He called on media owners and Managers to terminate such programs on Radio and TV and instead create development centered programs that will have positive impact on the future leaders of the country particularly the girl child.

“The media is the most potent weapon on earth but it is unfortunate to note that sometimes we don’t use this weapon progressively. We use this weapon destructively and not constructively, for example, some media houses show programs which pollutes the minds of Children.”

“So my appeal to my media colleagues is that please stop immediately all the toxic programs either on radio or television. Pornographic materials also in Newspapers should not be published again.”

Mr. Monney pledged the commitment of the GJA in supporting Plan International Ghana’s campaign dubbed “Girls Get Equal” which seeks to give voice to girls and women to speak out against maltreatments, abuses and other challenges impeding the achievement of Gender equality to ostensibly illuminate a world where the girl has equal opportunities to achieve her fullest potential in life.

The Country Director of Plan International Ghana, Solomon Tesfamariam said though in recent years, strives have been made in women and girls centered constitutions and legal frameworks and increase in girls enrolment in Schools, “complex issues like child sex tourism, teenage pregnancies, rape, prostitution, female genital mutilation and gender-based violence are gaining recognition as barriers to both wellbeing and poverty reduction.”

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According to him cases such as rape must be handled expeditiously.

“The instances of rape are increasing day-by-day. But only few are reported because of fear of social stigma and so the instances of rape are enhanced. Sadly most reported cases are not expeditiously dealt with due to under-resourced child protection institutions combined with the lackadaisical attitudes of some law enforcement agencies. The fact that we see rape, prostitution, child marriage, child sex tourism, teenage pregnancies means we are failing as a people to adequately protect the girl”.

The Country Director stated further that “Child sex tourism and prostitution is a result of gender-based aggression and continues to be a global problem because women and girls are viewed solely as sex objects and as an outlet for man’s basic instincts” adding that “One of the evils of the modern society is the sexual harassment caused to women particularly the working women or even students in college or in higher education by their male counterparts.”